Marielle V Jakobsons "The Patterns Lost to Air"
Marielle V Jakobsons has cultivated a signature voice molded by minimalist, ambient and spiritual traditions. Her recordings, from her early work with the Date Palms, to the ongoing work with Chuck Johnson in Saariselka, and most definitively with The Patterns Lost to Air, show Jakobsons to be an exceptionally skillful sound sculptor, a musician who knows the value of patience and control. An artist able to derive maximum impact from her chosen sound elements, the album’s layout is shaped by three primary voices of violin, Fender Rhodes, and Moog Matriarch and was recorded in 2024 in the studio Jakobsons built in Oakland, California, its huge windows overlooking a backyard with olive and palm trees, nesting towhees and hummingbirds.
The Patterns Lost to Air was also born of personal change for Jakobsons brought on by the health effects of Long Covid, as well as an intentional musical shift from drones to working with scores and written music as she leaned in on her classical training, and harmonic writing. It was more than an evolution, it was a need to redefine who and what she was, down to the molecular level, because she could no longer create music in the same way, which became a galvanizing motif for The Patterns Lost to Air. What happens when we release our grip on familiar patterns – in sound, in self, in memory – and allow them to transform in the air around us? How do we move through that to reinvent and renew?
Phew & Dannielle de Picciotto "Paper Masks"
A unique collaboration between two of the most inquisitive and important artists in modern avant-garde electronic music.
Paper Masks marks a striking new collaboration between visionary Mute labelmates Phew and Danielle de Picciotto. Developed quietly over nearly five years, what began as an experiment between friends gradually evolved into a fulllength album. Phew composed and arranged all the music, weaving in dePicciotto’s voice and freely reshaping it to create something entirely new. Performed in both German and English, the result is an exploratory work that balances electronic minimalism with emotional immediacy.
Described by Pitchfork as “a Japanese underground legend”, Phew – former member of Osaka punk pioneers Aunt Sally – has forged a remarkable solo career, collaborating with Ryuichi Sakamoto, members of Can, and many others. In parallel, Danielle de Picciotto, an American-born interdisciplinary artist based in Berlin, co-founded the Berlin Love Parade and has performed internationally, working with Crime & the City Solution, Gudrun Gut, Space Cowboys, and her partner Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten and frequent Phew collaborator) in hackedepicciotto.
Paper Masks stands as a mesmerizing exchange between two singular voices in experimental music – an intimate dialogue across distance, language, and sound, and a compelling addition to both artists’ evolving legacies.
Feslmann + Tiley "Protomensch"
Mute welcomes German synthesizer and producer duo Felsmann + Tiley to the roster with the release of their new album Protomensch. Out February 13, 2026 on limited edition black vinyl packaged in a special gatefold sleeve featuring a mirror foil lamination on the inner panel revealing a ‘self-portrait of the protomensch.’
On Protomensch (German for “proto-human”), Felsmann + Tiley blend shimmering synthwave, pounding trance, and introspective IDM with synth-pop-infused tracks featuring guest vocalists including London’s Pet Deaths and Australian artists The Kite String Tangle, Woodes, and Laius.
This juxtaposition between sentient beings and machines permeates the whole album – right from the duo’s manifesto introducing us the highly intelligent yet irrevocably shortsighted and downright tragic character of Protomensch – the cover artwork featuring turtleneck wearing chimpanzee, futuristic music videos, and stark social media aesthetics to seated, next-level live-shows involving collaboration with dozens of visual artists.
Despite their online ubiquity, sparked in part by their viral reinterpretation of label-mate M83’s “Solitude,” which has been used over 1 million times on TikTok and high-profile syncs on shows including Young Royals (season two), the BAFTA-winning crime thriller Top Boy (season three), and Amazon’s The Better Sister, Felsmann + Tiley have lingered largely on the periphery, their origins cloaked in quiet anonymity, until now. With the release of Protomensch, Felsmann + Tiley present their fully realized artistic vision and step into the spotlight.
